The Virginia Wesleyan University women's volleyball team defeated St. Mary's of Maryland 3-0, winning 25-16, 25-16, and 25-12, and beat Meredith 25-22, 25-10, and 25-21.
Game One:
The Marlins got off to a hot start, building an 8-2 lead, and with a 7-1 rally extended their lead to 15-4. VWU held a commanding 22-9 lead, but the Angels did not give up and outscored the Marlins 7-1 to cut the lead to 23-16, but kills from
Emma Claytor and
Morgan Ludovici sealed the win for the Marlins and took set one 25-16.
VWU kept their momentum from set one and jumped out to a 13-6 lead. St. Mary's countered with a 5-2 run, bringing the score to 15-11. The Marlins rallied with a 4-0 run to lead 19-11. Virginia Wesleyan outscored the Angels 6-5 to take set two 25-16.
In the third set, the Marlins offense was on fire leaping to a 14-3 lead. The Angels countered with a 5-1 rally to cut the lead to 15-8. VWU countered with a 6-0 run to lead 22-9. The Marlins won the third set 25-12 to seal the 3-0 win over St. Mary's.
Emma Claytor led the team with 11 kills, a .500 hitting percentage, two solo blocks, and two digs,
Morgan Ludovici had seven kills with a .160 hitting percentage, 12 digs, one service ace, and one block assist, and
Abigail Mahoney tallied seven kills with a .429 hitting percentage and one dig.
Haley Sutton led the team with 20 assists, six digs, four service aces, and two kills, and teammate
Cara Caruso led the team with 18 digs and six assists.
Game Two:
Set one was a close battle between the Marlins and Seahawks with Virginia Wesleyan going up 9-5 early in the set. The two teams traded points until Meredith went on a 4-0 run that tied the game at 19-19. Both teams scored two points each to tie the game at 21-21, however, the Marlins outscored the Seahawks 4-1 to take set one 25-22.
The Marlins came out strong in the second set building a 13-2 lead to start the set. Then, after dropping two points went on another 9-2 run to lead 22-6. Virginia Wesleyan won set two with ease, with a final set score of 25-10.
The Seahawks kept it close in the third set, only being down 7-5 early, but the Marlins went on a 12-1 run to lead 19-6. Meredith countered winning nine straight points cut the lead down to 19-15. The Seahawks kept their momentum and went on a 3-0 run to come within two of VWU at 21-19. Virginia Wesleyan outscored the Seahawks 4-2 to seal the win with a 25-21 set three win.
Abigail Mahoney led the team with 12 kills, a .321 hitting percentage, two digs, one solo block, and one service ace,
Morgan Ludovici recorded nine kills, a .286 hitting percentage, nine digs, and one service ace, and
Emma Claytor had four kills, a .571 hitting percentage, four service aces, three digs, and one block assist.
Haley Sutton and
Niya Nash each had 13 assists, Nash had one kill, one service ace, and five digs, Sutton registered six digs, and two service aces, and
Cara Caruso recorded 11 digs and one assist.